Biotech Admedus Vaccines, backed by Professor Ian Frazer, goes bust
April 25, 2019 7:26am
Anthony MarxThe Courier-Mail
BIG SETBACK
PROFESSOR Ian Frazer, the brains behind the world’s first cervical cancer vaccine, and his colleagues at the University of Queensland have suffered a major setback.
Admedus Vaccines, a related entity of loss-making Brisbane medical technology outfit Admedus, tipped itself into voluntary administration last week after a complicated sales deal to offload the company fell through.
Frazer (illustrated) was one of the directors and shareholders in Admedus Vaccines along with Uniquest head Dean Moss, Admedus CEO Wayne Paterson and COO David St Denis.
Uniquest is the UQ body that aims to commercialise its intellectual property and continues to earn huge sums from global sales of Frazer’s Gardasil vaccine.
City Beat had hoped to learn more from Frazer but he wouldn’t talk. “As a director, I’m not in a position to comment publicly while the company is in administration,’’ he emailed us from Vanuatu.
Ian Frazer from UQ
Administrator Peter Lucas said yesterday that unsecured creditors are owed less than $1 million but he stressed that it would be “business as usual’’ until the company is either resuscitated or the IP sold.
“The company is involved in some significant research in developing a vaccine for the HPV virus (associated with head and neck cancers),’’ he said.
“We have already had a number of expressions of interest from parties looking to recapitalise the company or to acquire its assets and continue on the research. It’s very important research that we want to see completed if at all possible.’’
Creditors are set to meet for the first time next Friday.
A FEW QUESTIONS
LONG-SUFFERING Admedus investors, which once included Fortescue Metals boss Andrew “Twiggy’’ Forrest, are sure to have a few questions at the firm’s AGM on May 14.
Under the aborted sales scheme, Admedus Vaccines was to have become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Therapeutics, which is already one of the biggest stakeholders in Admedus.
Hong Kong-based Star Bright Holdings, an associated entity of Admedus’s cornerstone investor, would then inject up to $18 million into Admedus Vaccines through 2022. Paterson was set to become chairman, while Frazer was ready to act as a consultant.
But Constellation got cold feet and scrapped the deal, forcing Admedus Vaccines to reveal that it had “no immediate source of funding available for ongoing operations’’.
The debacle comes as Admedus suffered a $24.7 million loss in the last calendar year and there was a huge turnover on the board and in management.
The share price has collapsed from more than $1.60 in 2014 to just 6¢ as auditors warn in the latest annual report of a “material uncertainty’’ about its ability to survive.
Despite all this, the company, formerly known as Allied Healthcare Group, managed to raise $35.4 million in new capital last year and saw a 20 per cent lift in revenue mainly from sales of its product for heart valve repairs.
Perhaps that justifies the spend on Paterson’s trip to New York last month to provide an “update on key milestones’’.
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